The Health Independent Domestic Violence Advisory service
The Health Independent Domestic Violence Advisory service is a new service in West Yorkshire. Health Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (HIDVAs) are based in the Airedale General Hospital, Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke’s Hospital and in five GP surgeries (North Street Surgery, Bevan Health, Tong Street, Moorside Surgery and the Ilkley Surgery).
The role of a Health IDVA is broadly to:
- Offer confidential and impartial advice about domestic abuse to patients and staff.
- Ensure that the service is available for staff experiencing abuse or who have concerns about their own relationship or someone else’s.
- Share the support offer – an opportunity to safely discuss options, safety plan and how their employer can help to reduce risk.
We have IDVA specialist roles in hospitals (Hospital IDVA) and in GP surgeries (GP IDVA).
Hospital IDVA
The role of a hospital IDVA is:
- To provide immediate support and advice to victims of domestic abuse within the hospital.
- Linking and liaising with GP IDVAs.
- Link with longer-term specialist support.
- Provide hospital staff with expert training on recognising domestic abuse and the link to complex health needs.
Being embedded with the Airedale Hospital, we can support victims in a timely way as we’re there, on site and on hand to help.
In nine months I have supported 142 victims, both staff and patients. The service offered is diverse and bespoke to what the victim wants and needs. We always work at the victim’s pace and the support ranges from advice, discussing concerns, signposting victims to services, working out a safety plan for them and planning face to face help.
I have worked with colleagues on the maternity wing and we have developed a training plan around domestic abuse/coercive control which will be delivered in monthly sessions until December 2022. The more people who are aware of domestic abuse and the quicker they can recognise some of the warning signs, ultimately will help us to support more victims.
I also have met with the chaplaincy staff to discuss faith and domestic abuse and its links, and some of the barriers that patients/staff may face accessing advice/support from me if they have a strong faith or involvement in a faith or church.
This was a positive meeting where they are aware of how to refer to my service and also how I can access their service for staff/patients if I am concerned this is a barrier for the individual to leave or access support or if they have any preconceived ideas of how their faith would respond or understand concerns around domestic abuse.
One particular success was when I supported a patient who disclosed that the perpetrator was accessing her medical records, I was able to liaise directly with the safeguarding team at the particular hospital and they agreed to investigate this further. This made the patient feel considerably safer and more confident around her patient records being confidential from him for the future.
GP IDVA
It is acknowledged that many people experiencing abuse believe that their GP can be trusted with disclosure and GPs can offer practical support to protect people who disclose abuse (RCGP 2020). Indeed the GP surgery can be one of the few places a woman can be seen alone without raising a perpetrator’s suspicion and as such presents an opportunity to ask women if they are experiencing abuse or violence in their relationships. A routine enquiry may create an important opportunity for early intervention, rather than reactive crisis management.
The GP IDVAs are based in 5 surgeries across the Bradford District (North Street Surgery, Bevan Health, Tong Street, Moorside Surgery and the Ilkley Surgery) and offer critical support not just to clinicians, but to victims of domestic abuse too.
Currently, clinicians routinely ask all female patients 16yrs+ about domestic abuse and this routine enquiry is made once every 12 months, if it is safe to do so. All patients who disclose they are a victim are offered an appointment with GP IDVA to discuss safety planning and support options.
In addition, each practice has been encouraged to appoint a Domestic Abuse Champion.
